Sure, it’s a great story, and Disney has once again found a way to surpass expectations by creating enduring characters and songs that rule the box office and album charts, as well as merchandising and promotional charts. But masterful marketing is playing a huge role in this impressive feat: What can marketers learn from Frozen’s success?

Too many companies go through the exercise of building a detailed segmentation, targeting, positioning and launch strategy, and then abandoning it once a newer, brighter and shinier object shows up. As great brands know, if you really nail it with the segments you are trying to win with, there is a decent chance you will get a halo effect with adjacent segments. Disney has stuck with female protagonists accompanied by great storytelling and songs that belong on Broadway and, in turn, continue to capture young girls’ and their parents’ hearts and money, time and time again.

Mine customer insights to inform where marketing risks make sense.

Disney learned in a good way from Tangled and Brave, which by all accounts were huge smashes at over $200 million U.S. each, that if you totally leave out boys, you will cut your audience potential, fracture families and potentially miss out on a much bigger piece of the pie. The initial marketing for Frozen showed Snow Man Olaf-focused trailers with humorous dialog and no songs, emphasizing its appeal as an animated comedy with “boy humor.” These trailers were followed by previews that included action and adventure. In October, we saw the full plot line, multiple male and female characters, action, song and humor. It wasn't until the film was released to such widespread love and overwhelming word-of-mouth promotion that audiences learned it was a story dominated by the relationship of two sisters. The slow reveal plan worked; stats show that 43% of audience members are male.

When possible, seek opportunities to expand your category frame of reference to bolster the brand and get to adjacent segments of the market.

Last week, Frozen knocked Beyoncé out of the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 album-sales chart, only the fourth animated film soundtrack in the chart's 58-year history to do so. The movie is helping to bolster the soundtrack and vice-versa. Add in Demi Lovato’s version of the big number “Let It Go” and Idina Menzel’s Wicked credentials and you are going to drive album sales, iTunes views and moviegoers. Get an A+ on CinemaScore, 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and throw in Josh Gad from Book Of Mormon as Olaf, and you have a recipe for appealing beyond young girls to other demographics and usage occasions.

I can attest to this in my own household: We own the soundtrack, my teenage daughter has seen it with friends multiple times and it was a “date” movie for my son and his girlfriend!

Don't rest on your brand laurels.

Extend your product's life-cycle to drive new awareness and create additional buying/revenue opportunities. Disney’s Bob Iger has already announced plans to create a Broadway play based on Frozen similar to The Lion King. Frozen on Ice is not far behind, and Frozen’s DVD launch in March will most likely set all sorts of records. When your brand has the equity and staying power of a brand like Frozen, you should ride it out as long as you can.

Seek portfolio diversification to successfully build the business both through innovation and brand building.

With the Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm brands firmly integrated into the Disney family, Disney can continue to diversify its portfolio and put out only high quality/high integrity animation features and never have to release a Treasure Planet or Chicken Little again. This November should be fun as Marvel and Disney animation team up to release Big Hero 6.

Frozen hasn't rocked the marketing world by any means, but instead has taken us back to some of the core tenets of what successful brand and business building looks like. It wasn't always this easy for Disney—15 years lapsed between Pocahontas and Tangled—but it seems to have rediscovered the magic formula once again.